Thursday, July 31, 2008

It's the Last Day!!!

Am I ever impressed with the CT applications I've received so far. But it's the last day of the call, and I know that there are some folks out there who just haven't thought of applying. So as a reminder...

Here's what you should send me with your application: Your real and screen name A short bio A link to your favourite gallery A bit about why you want to be on my team Send your email to kikihalbert @ gmail dot com with the words CT call in the subject line. All applicants will be contacted personally and this call is for guests and CT members! I'm really looking forward to looking at your layouts! Newbies to CTs are welcome to apply. Get those applications in before the end of the day, because I'll be making my announcement this weekend.

Monday, July 28, 2008

August Calendar:

I have the most awesome Creative Team. I know I say that all the time, but it really is true. They not only make some beautiful layouts with my products, but they dedicate time to come up with little freebies that they know my customers and readers would love. Here's Mara's wonderful contribution, the August Desktop Calendar. I really hope you enjoy it. If so, please leave a comment so that I can tell her how much it is appreciated.

Have a great week everyone! Thanks for dropping by! And keep your eyes open this week for more. Rita has done it again - she's made a couple QPs using my new papers at Plain Digital Wrapper called Men's Line.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

For Sentimental Reasons

It's finally here. For Sentimental Reasons is a kit that I know I'm going to use for my wedding photos. It's perfectly romantic.

For Sentimental Reasons is just that - a way to remember all the wonderful wedding or first love moments. This kit is ideal for those blushing bride and kissing your honey layouts with the romantic feel. Elegantly patterned papers with a baroque touch provide the ideal background. Delicate elements with a shimmer provide the perfect accents to those beautiful photos. Stunning word art and lace are the ideal elements to finish off your layouts. This kit can provide the basis for so many wedding layouts while still giving you a stunning look back at those sentimental times. 10 12X12 textured papers in subtle tone-on-tone shades, and patterns, 5 pieces of lace, 4 roses, 4 chrome Wordart, 2 foiled ornaments, 1 chrome heart, 1 chrome and paper tag, 1 large chrome ornamental frame, 1 fabric and silk stitched frame, 1 satin bow, 1 butterfly, 1 cut-out journal paper and 1 wrap-around ribbon. Also comes with a full upper- and lowercase alpha in chrome, with numbers and some punctuation, not shown in preview.

Here's what one of my CT members, Heather did with it:

I hope you enjoy it, and please let me know if you use it, because I love to comment on layouts using my products.

I'm also having a huge HUGE sale at Plain Digital Wrapper. You can save 40-70% off my products there but only for this weekend.

Friday, July 25, 2008

Are you ready to see some beautiful layouts using my latest?

Sunday, I have a new kit that will hitting Scrapbook-Elements.com and I think you'll find that it is going to be the most amazing kit for elegant layouts. Take a look at what some of my one-kit CT team did with it! I'll be posting more of them tomorrow as well, because hey, I just want to tease you a little before you see the whole thing.

By Cindy

By Cindy

By Lisa

By Vivarant

By Annika

Aren't they gorgeous! As you can see, this would be an awesome kit for wedding layouts, baby layouts, anything that needs lovely soft, romantic colours and touches.

Keep your eye out tomorrow for more layouts. I know that you'll love all of these.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Oooooh! Big big news!

My CT members will attest to the fact that I've been very very busy lately. With what you may ask?

With my new store at Sunshine Studio Scraps! I'm one the of the new Sunshine Girls! It's the most amazing group of ladies and it is so nice to find a forum that is busy, with no drama, and support from everyone. And the Sunshine Girls are so excited about being there, and we are doing it up style! By giving you all an amazing freebie collab - one that I'm sure will be famously popular and used over and over again. It's called Mango Tango. Here's my part:

Don't forget to visit the Sunshine Studio Scraps Blog to pick up the rest of the kit. It's a beautiful collaboration of over 20 designers! Be patient - there will be tons of people downloading these freebies, so come back later to pick them up. The links will be available for a long time, don't worry.

Thanks for coming by, and don't forget to check out my store Friday, when my new products will be available at Sunshine Studio Scraps! I'd also love it if you can post layouts with the freebies at the Sunshine Studio Scraps gallery - that way I can leave you a comment! Enjoy!!

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Ah, with another weekend over, summer ends a little quicker. We finally had a nice weekend with no rain and warm temperatures for the first time this summer. Okay, maybe not the first time, but it's definitely been a while. I think it's a well-known fact that Canadians love to talk about the weather. Of course we do! It's cold 8 months of the year here, nearly 9 months really, so when we get nice weather, we talk it up! So you will probably notice that I have the tendency to tell you exactly what the weather's been like here over the last few weeks. It's not idle chit chat, or small talk. It's in my blood.

Now the fact that I married an American with that same tendency is quite odd. However, my hubby comes from the Pacific Northwest, which explains the weather chat most of the time. Weather there makes headlines. I expect to hear him complain about the rain, the snow, etc. But no. He's definitely not typical. He's a little different in that way. You see he loves rain. In fact he begs for rain. The bigger the storm the better. The last storm we had, where I thought a tornado would ensue, he was out on the porch in all his glory, laughing at the rain. I kid you not. And snow? Oh, he loves the stuff. The deeper the better. He actually hoped we would break our snowfall record this year. Well, while we didn't beat the record, we did come close. Good thing for him, because it would have led to some pretty nasty looks being shot his way, as if he had brought the snow down from heaven himself. I cannot stand the snow. Truth be told, I think most Canadians can't stand the snow. Take a look at the map of Canada, with the population taken into account and you will quickly see that, oh say, 85% of the population lives on the southern border of the country. This is not by chance.

Now, why all the hubbub about my darling hubby enjoying our Canadian weather? Well, as I was saying, it's been lovely and warm lately. Sunny. The kind of weather you bask in after a long, hard, cold, nasty winter. So do you think he is enjoying this lovely phenomenon we call summer? No. Instead, I hear complaints of how hot it is, how humid it is, and I get blasted with air conditioning on a glorious, comfortable sunny day, to the point where my skin turns purple and people begin to question whether I have Raynaud's syndrome. He hates the heat, the humidity. I thought in the first year that he came here that it was a problem with acclimatization. You know, being from the West with no humidity, and coming to the humidity capital of the world, or so it seems. No, apparently it's just him. He doesn't like feeling warm. He doesn't like nice weather, especially summer.

Now regardless of my husband's um....fettish with cold, miserable weather, I quite enjoy summer. I revel in it. So I've been creating some cheery, comfortable kits that remind you of a light summer day.

Here's Morning's Glory:

There's something quiet and delightful about the summer morning. That was my inspiration for Morning's Glory. It's a lovely graceful kit full of delicate touches. A flower die-cut border, pearls, fabric word art and a touch of glitter. Check it out here.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Can it be that it's already the middle of the week? The summer is flying by so quickly that I hardly notice the days going by. It seems that the only time that days go by slowly is when I am anxiously awaiting a package in the mail, or hearing about the results of a CT or designer call. Yes, my life is quite uneventful most times, and I like it that way. The past three years have been very anxious, and now, having a slow, normally-pace life is kind of nice.

We stayed up for the fireworks last night. It was an awesome show. I have to say that walking to the end of the yard to see them up close and personal is quite nice. No I didn't have my camera ready. I only found my manual yesterday, so I wasn't prepared for fireworks shots. But I am reading up on how to adjust my settings, and I just might go and take a photography workshop to become familiar with it.

Did I mention it's the middle of the week already? That means that there's only a few days more to wait for my new kit to come out at Scrapbook-Elements.com! Want some more sneak peeks?

From the marvelous Rita (chantillylace):

From Sarah (sabedavo):

This wonderful kit comes out on Sunday, and it will be on sale for 20% off on Sunday and Monday, so mark your calendars so you don't miss out. That's at my store at Scrapbook-Elements.com! See you there!

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

July 1st already!?

So it's July 1st, and that's a pretty big deal where I live. You see, I live in Canada's Capital region, which means lots of festivities, fireworks, etc. And boy there is a party going on today. Earlier today, while out on the back porch, two CF-18s flew by, and much to my chagrin I did not have my camera handy. Thirty seconds later the Snowbirds (the Canadian fighter-acrobats) flew overhead as well. Teaches me for not always being ready with the camera. Regardless of the earlier lack of preparedness, I decided that when hubby and I walked over to Ottawa, I would bring my camera.

If you had asked me three months ago, what I love about our new apartment, I doubt that I would have responded by saying that it is a walk away to The Market - the local restaurant, pub, quaint shop district in Ottawa. Of course, that's probably because we were sitting under feet of snow, after one of the worst winters on record. Now that the weather is nice, I cannot tell you how much I enjoy our location. We are minutes from my work, and only a half hour walk to some of the finest restaurants, coolest pubs, and neatest shops in Ottawa. The walk over the bridge is usually quite pleasant, breezy and affords a photographer some of the best pictures of Parliament Hill.

Today however, the walk was anything but calm, relaxing, breezy. Instead we waded through a sea of red, on a walk that under normal circumstances would take half an hour, and instead took one hour.

And while the occasional drunk or high person was being arrested, the street buskers and entertainers were quite pleasant to watch on the side of the street. And the weather for a change was absolutely perfect. So all in all it was a lovely afternoon. I hope that we've still got enough energy to stay up to watch the fireworks. If not, they will undoubtedly wake us up.